Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (SW 1978-9)

Ah, the mentor of the original trilogy, the wise man, the old fossil, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi. While he was only alive during the first movie, he somehow retained acting parts in all three movies. Where else but the Star Wars universe?

Ben came with a built-in blue lightsaber that popped out of his right arm. His hair and beard came in both white and gray variations, and he came on SW, ESB, ROTJ, and POTF cards. There were two ROTJ cards, one with the original background picture, and one with a closer picture with his hood up. This was the same picture on the POTF card. Also, technically, there was another ESB card that has an "ASST #" under the number in the upper left-hand corner. I am not that choosy - others are. Ben also came in a vinyl cape, and other than his hair changing color, he underwent no physical changes for the entire line.

Why should you get this figure? Five reasons:

1. The mentor - other than Yoda of course.

2. Kicked ass in the prequels. Give him props for defeating a cyborg armed with 4 lightsabers.

3. Re-enact the unspoken lines in the original movie between him and Vader:

"So, you remember those flips and cool tricks we did in our last lightsaber battle?"

"Yeah."

"Let's not do any of that."

"Agreed."

4. Luke needs someone riding shotgun in the Landspeeder.

5. There were only three figures from the first movie who came with lightsabers. Only two of them actually fought with them. He's one.

Backstory:

Obi-Wan was born about 57 years before the first movie, and had a brother named Owen (some early histories said that Owen Lars was his brother, which we now know to be untrue). He was taken for Jedi training very young, and eventually came under the tutelage of Yoda and Qui-Gon Jinn. Before being taken up as an apprentice, he almost did not become a Jedi at all do to him being seen as reckless.

He and Qui-Gon had many adventures around the galaxy, even meeting the likes of a young Chewbacca. Eventually, one of their adventures led them to Tatooine where they met Anakin, and the rest is history. Between Episode III and IV, Obi-Wan hid in seclusion on tatooine, keeping a watch over Anakin's offspring, Luke. During his "exile" he did journey off-world once or twice to take care of some Jedi matters, despite the fact he was being hunted by the Empire and bounty hunters alike. During his time he learned how to become one with the Force when he was struck down, which is exactly what he did when Vader struck him down in the first movie.

Full story? His Wookieepedia article

20th in alphabetical order

Barada (POTF 1985)

Barada was released near the end of the vintage run, during the Power of the Force line. Thus, he garnered a coin while many iconic figures did not - so sad. Barada came with a force pike lance and a permanent scowl. I can't say much about this figure, other than he's good for getting cut in half by Luke while escaping Jabba's sand barge.

Why should you own this figure? Five reasons:

1. You need him, Klaatu, and Nikto together for the perfect trifecta (more on that below).

2. No one can use a hydrospanner on the sand-crusted lug nuts like him.

3. Once you make that scale-model of Jabba's sand barge, you're going to need people getting sliced on the deck by Luke.

4. You need him for your stop-motion children's show, "Fun at Jabba's!"

5. Probably the closest-looking figure to a pirate in the entire vintage collection. Even more than original Han.

Backstory:

Barada was put into servitude by his parents because of his sass-mouth. Yea, you read that right. Right before his time was up, he was bought by Jabba along with the garage he worked in. He then became Jabba's chief mechanic for his sand barge, and friends with Ephant Mon (they never made a figure of him). He was made a guard during Luke's trip to the Sarlacc pit, and was promptly cut in half by Luke.

He, along with two other figures, were named after the phrase "klaatu barada nikto" from the 1950's movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still." The phrase was used again, most notably in Army of Darkness.

Want more? Full article at Wookieepedia

19th in alphabetical order

B-Wing Fighter Vehicle (ROTJ)

Despite its unusual design (as were many Star Wars ships), this was an awesome toy. Let’s just spell out the features, shall we? We’ll go right into the five reasons to own for this one:

Why should you own this vehicle? Five reasons:

1. Rotating cockpit. Always stayed level with the horizon – unless you locked it into one position.

2. Guns under the cockpit. Guns at the end of every single wing too.

3. Wings could fold in and out, just like (well, not just like) an X-Wing, by rotating one of the back engines.

4. Laser battle sounds! This required batteries of course.

5. You even get pop-out landing gear. All that and a kickstand!

The B-Wing Fighter only came in an ROTJ box, because, well, that was the last movie. Maybe if the POTF line had stayed popular it would have been reissued in another box, but that’s all conjecture. The toy itself is also very accurate to the actual movie prop.

Backstory:

The B-Wing was developed under Admiral (then Commander) Ackbar and the manufacturer Slayn & Korpil under Project Shantipole. It was intended as a replacement for the Y-Wing, but due to the difficulty in flying it, Y-Wings stayed in service for a while. The standard weapons configuration was 3 light ion cannons (to disable, not destroy), 1 heavy laser, 1 set of twin blasters, and 2 proton torpedo launchers with 8 torpedoes apiece.

The B-Wing rotating cockpit would freeze in one position sometimes, a problem inherent in the design. After the Battle of Endor, some B-Wings were fitted with firefighting equipment to handle blazes from debris on the forest moon. Some B-Wings were also later modified to have a two-person cockpit for a gunner and pilot.

Due to the shape of the ship, some planned sequences were not filmed for ROTJ, so we actually see precious little of it in the film. Its name was also not quite derived from its shape, but more because the film crew referred to the new ships as ship “A” (the A-Wing) and ship “B” (the B-Wing). While it takes a stretch of the imagination to say the B-Wing resembles a lowercase “b,” the backstory was created that the “B” stood for “Blade,” since the Fighter was so streamlined.

Full story? Wookieepedia article

18th in alphabetical order

AT-ST Driver (ROTJ 1983-4)

This is 16th in alphabetical order instead of the AT-ST, because - officially - the toy was called the Scout Walker and not AT-ST, so it will be appearing farther down the list.

The AT-ST Driver was a figure very true to the character from the film (ROTJ). It came with a blaster pistol, the same one as the B-Wing Pilot. There must have been some driver/pilot conference where they picked them all up. The Driver was released on both an ROTJ and POTF card, with the POTF card naturally being rarer. Both cards featured a picture of the AT-ST, and not the actual Driver.

Why should you own this figure? Five reasons:

1. Owning it meant hope that you would get a Scout Walker (AT-ST) if you didn’t already have one.

2. Owning a Scout Walker mandated that you get this figure.

3. Chewbacca and two little Ewoks need someone to beat on.

4. The AT-AT Drivers need someone to beat on.

5. Despite the character’s wimpiness, the figure was spot-on when it came to its detail.

Backstory:

AT-ST Drivers wore very light armor compared to their AT-AT counterpart. Funny, considering the AT-AT was already more armored than an AT-ST. They carried standard equipment, such as a blaster, rifle, grenades, thermal detonators, flares, comlinks, and spare ammo. The helmets and goggles were also standard, but many chose not to wear the goggles.

Interesting side note: ROTJ’s director, Richard Marquand, was one of the AT-ST Drivers beaten down by Chewbacca and the Ewoks.

Want more? Its Wookieepedia article.

17th in alphabetical order